China ties Egypt 2-2 at U-22 soccer friendly

China U-22 drew 2-2 with their Egyptian counterpart at an international soccer friendly here on Thursday.

Mahmoud Hamad opened the scoring in the 43rd minute with a follow-up inside the penalty area after substitute midfielder Mohamed Ashraf's powerful effort was parried by keeper Du Jia.

The hosts fought back in the second half and turned the game.

Midfielder Wu Xinghan made a nice half volley to level in the box after a series of neat short passes with his teammates in the central part outside the area on 63 minutes.

Substitute midfielder Wang Qiuming put China ahead with an accurate tap-in from close range after Liao Lisheng's deep lob pass picked out Yang Chaosheng on the right flank, and the latter provided a pin-point cross to set up for Wang.

The guests rallied afterwards, and their efforts paid in the 90th minute, when Hussein Ragab netted home from close range after receving Ramadan Sobhi's right wing cross. The Egyptians could have took a last-gasp winner, but Shokry Naguib's shot at a good angle inside the box from an counter-attack was saved by a diving Du Jia.

China U-22 team is preparing for next January's Asian U23 Youth Championship, which is also the qualifiers for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. China is grouped with hosts Qatar, Syria and Iran, and only the top three teams of Asia can book tickets for Rio. Endi